This post comes to use from The Dame.She blogs about love, sex, inspiration and a million other interesting things. Recently a teenage girl emailed her asking for “a schedule of diet and exercise” and here is what she said:

I bathe myself in color – put on bright clothes and bright lipstick. I'm currently in the process of weeding out all the grey and black from my wardrobe (which is tough because I do love grey and black) so that I can feel better every day without having to dig around first.

This is so sweet. Great advice. What I do is … 1-meditate (because feeling not-pretty is often associated with feeling stressed about other things)2-write (because sometimes whatever's rattling around in my brain needs to get out)3-hug someone (because I need to remember that I have love in my life no matter how I think I look at that moment)4-go to the yoga studio (because practicing yoga with a community helps me maintain a healthy perspective)

wearing colorful tights always does it for me. basking in the attention of others starring at your kelly green legs makes me feel like a million bucks.also, flossing always tends to make me feel quite foxy.

I usually enjoy your blog because of the all around "feel good" attitude of it, but I was not impressed with the Dame's site, or "How to be Skinny." I'm on the same page as those who would argue for HAES, and not restricting the diet of a person so young.

I like the list, except for the food advice 😉I love sugar, I love coffee and I love to eat. I think everyone should eat and drink whatever they want. Whenever I want to have a pizza at midnight, I'm going to have one. Well, most of the time not a complete pizza, but enough to satisfy my appetite. Diversification is my secret for a healthy lifestyle without weight fluctuations. (and it took me almost 20 years of my lifetime -including a lot of crying in front of the mirror- to figure that out.. now I'm 25 and feel for the first time in my life good in my body) .. oh, and I don't care about being skinny, I'm a curvy girl. Always been, always will 😉

Marvelous post and marvelous closing question! Answering it helps us figure it out… I guess what I do to feel my best is: put on eyeliner, pay extra attention to the cat, stay off the internet, give my guy a kiss and go on a decadent walk where I notice all the trees in bloom and eavesdrop on everyone.

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